Peruvian shamans gathered on a Lima beach Monday for a traditional blessing ritual ahead of the country's presidential runoff scheduled for Sunday. The ceremony took place at Herradura Beach in the Chorrillos district, where shamans held up posters of the two candidates as they performed the ritual by the sea.
According to the Associated Press, the two candidates are Keiko Fujimori, the conservative daughter of disgraced former President Alberto Fujimori, and Roberto Sanchez, a nationalist congressman and former minister. The two are neck and neck in the polls heading into the vote.
The ritual used flower petals, fruit, coca leaves, and fragrant pieces of palo santo, which translates to holy wood in Spanish, as well as black tobacco, swords, and dolls. The shamans also lit colorful flares and banged drums during the ceremony.
Shaman Andres de los Santos, who had traveled to Lima from the north of the country, explained the purpose of the gathering. "The ritual we perform is primarily intended to ensure that the best candidate is the one who represents our Peru," he said.
The shamans made no predictions this time around, though they have done so before. At the end of 2025, they predicted that Venezuela's then-President Nicolas Maduro, now facing drug trafficking charges in the United States, would no longer be in office by the end of 2026.
The first round of voting in April was mired in logistical problems that left thousands of Peruvians in the country and abroad unable to cast ballots. Fujimori received just over 17% of the vote in that round while Sanchez received about 12% in a crowded field of candidates. It then took weeks for the country's electoral body to finalize the two contenders for the runoff.
The winner of Sunday's election will become Peru's ninth president in just 10 years. That figure reflects the political instability that has characterized the country in recent years. The incoming president will replace Jose Maria Balcazar, who was elected interim president in February after Jose Jeri was ousted over corruption allegations just four months into his term.
Peru's next president will be sworn in on July 28 for a five-year term.
